so fed up with shedding long hair!

[jasper]

I've been telling myself this is a spring shed. I don't really know if I shed more at this time of year, or that I am shedding more than normal at this time. I don't know or feel like I am losing volume. What I do know is that multiple stands coming out when I shampoo or when I braid before bed or just run my hand through the length to finger comb feel like a handful when they are this long! I feel like my hair is coming out by the handful! I feel bad seeing the big shed hairballs, so I keep my hair up and handle my hair as little as possible. I think that means the shed hairs all just hang out waiting to all get free at once. The resulting hairballs I find are big enough to attack small animals and send people screaming.

And I remember that the time I bobbed off my length, it was at the end of May with my hair as long as it had ever been, and the shed strands driving me crazy.

Last May I decided I should start collecting my shed hair for some kind of art or craft project, as a way to combat my increasing anxiety over it, but a week or two into June and I was over it.

What do you do if shed hairs are getting to you?

[sharicat]

I'm with you. I'm having an epic post-natal shed, losing all my lovely pregnancy hair! :( it drives me mental as it's all over me, my clothes, the house, and the kids!

I've been washing it every 3 days and handling as little as possible. I don't know if that actually helps or not, because as you say, when you eventually do these things all the shed hairs hanging around comes out and it seems like masses! And when you're hair's long it does feel like an even bigger loss :(

I'm getting quite worried about the amount I'm losing. I have some thinning on my right temple but it's not too noticeable as my parting covers it. With my first son it was my left temple.

I was considering trying to collect it for a hair rat but I think actually seeing a massive ball of my shed hair would not help me. It's all totally wadded in my brushes, too.

So no advice but I totally get how you're feeling!

[Belisarius]

What do you do if shed hairs are getting to you?
Obsess over it, just like you. :)

[celebriangel]

Obsess over it, just like you. :)

Me too! I also mess around with my routine until I find something that makes me shed less (going conefree and SLS free helped last time - so did henna, so maybe a cassia treatment?)

[gthlvrmx]

I assure myself that hair WILL grow, the cycle goes on! And i try leaving my scalp be for a while, relaxing really helps me out.
I too have started collecting :p I don't know if this is a normal reaction after being on LHC for a while, but i just had to! Making braids out of them so if i ever do have thinner hair, bah bum!instant volume :p and hair experiments

[Cowgirl16]

I am doing some above average shedding right now myself :( I keep telling myself it is due to the stress I am going through and all should return to normal...soon I hope. In the meantime I am taking my B complex vitamins and trying not to get too upset over it:mad:

[squiggyflop]

shed hairs dont get me, but they do get on my dads nerves.. 'dammit your hair is everywhere!'.. or he complains when jack eats one of my hairs by accident and has a hard time, um, doing his business..

as to losing chunks of hair.. it just looks like chunks because the hairs are longer.. i lose like 100+ hairs a day.. the same amount as when i had short hair, but it *looks* like more hair

as for craft projects, ive heard of people covering sock donuts with braided shed hair glued or sewn on.. you know for a fancy sock donut that makes you look like you have even more hair than you would have in a normal sock bun.. the best part is that it matches your hair color..

i have also seen people take shed hairs and create little clip in highlights (dying the shed hairs in manic panic).. its hard to find clip in colored extensions when your hair gets longer than waist length

[selderon]

I just remind myself that I have a seasonal shed every year and I'm not bald yet! :P

This might be a good time to make clip in bangs. Then you won't have to wonder what you'll look like with bangs.

[JuliaDancer]

I just remind myself that I have a seasonal shed every year and I'm not bald yet! :P

This might be a good time to make clip in bangs. Then you won't have to wonder what you'll look like with bangs.

Haha great idea! I was just thinking how funny that would be. Now you've got me wondering how that would work... Maybe not clip in, but attached to a headband of some sort?

[ewhalin]

I guess I don't obsess too much, but it does get annoying. I usually stick my hair up on my shower walls to keep it from clogging the drain.... sometimes all those swirlies make kinda cool pictures, ha!I almost made it into an art project :)

[jasper]

Ah, I should start sticking it to the shower wall. That is when it is driving me the most insane. I get strands in my hand and try to roll them up, and then step out of the shower for a second to try to put them in the trash can, but I can't drop them because they are wet and sticking to me and I flail around and then the hairball flies off and either sticks to me somewhere else or lands no where near the trash can. . . Yeah, I should just stick them to the shower wall and deal with them after showering is over.


I just remind myself that I have a seasonal shed every year and I'm not bald yet! :P
I will remember to remind myself that I am not bald yet. I have thought something like that before, thanks!

[islandboo]

I guess I don't obsess too much, but it does get annoying. I usually stick my hair up on my shower walls to keep it from clogging the drain.... sometimes all those swirlies make kinda cool pictures, ha!I almost made it into an art project :)

Ha! I do the same thing! I get depressed at the number of hairs I shed, but at least I get to play with them while I shower. Also, it is really easy to just wipe them off the shower wall with a tissue after the shower and get rid of them.

[satoushiri]

I guess I don't obsess too much, but it does get annoying. I usually stick my hair up on my shower walls to keep it from clogging the drain.... sometimes all those swirlies make kinda cool pictures, ha!I almost made it into an art project :)

lol I do this too ... sometimes its grosses me out, but it saves working on the shower drain.

I shed hair like crazy, all the time. It gets frustrating because the hair is all over the floor - all over our apartment. Its not like I play with my hair that much outside of the bathroom - I usually keep it up because its hot. But dangit if that hair isn't always everywhere I turn ...

Sometimes I feel bad for my husband because he has to deal with all this hair everywhere that isn't his, but he is my #1 long hair supporter so I think he overlooks it :)

[trolleypup]

as to losing chunks of hair.. it just looks like chunks because the hairs are longer.. i lose like 100+ hairs a day.. the same amount as when i had short hair, but it *looks* like more hair
Exactly this. A few yard long hairs make a hairball all by themselves. Also, preening prior to washing will cut the shower sheds way way down.

[EmiliaF]

I am also going through a shedding period right now. I am also analyzing everything to try to find a reason and I am changing my routine.

My hair is everywhere. In my last two apartments I had carpets on the floor and I basically had to scratch the hair out of the carpet before I could even try to get near it with a vacuum cleaner. Now I have wooden floors and it's actually a little worse. The shed hairs don't stick to anything like a carpet, so instead they stick to me... drives me nuts. :shake:

[Lize]

I know how you feel. I have the same problem as you do. I get a shed in springtime every year it seems. But hopefully it will get compensated with faster growth in the summertime. I get super annoyed by all the shed hairs though. Even though I really try to get them out of my hair when I am in the bathroom I still end up with shed hairs all over my apartment. I feel like a dog right now.

[RuLueashk]

Those of you who collect shed hairs for braids or clips-- what do you do with them until you have enough volume for a braid? I mean, how do you store them while you're collecting them, so they don't become a mass of tangle?

[berr]

Those of you who collect shed hairs for braids or clips-- what do you do with them until you have enough volume for a braid? I mean, how do you store them while you're collecting them, so they don't become a mass of tangle?

I've wondered about this, too. Mine are always in the brush so they are rather wadded up when I extract them.

I too have been shedding a lot lately. I keep my hair up, in a sleep tail, or in braid (pretty much restrained) almost ALL of the time. I'd usually get 5 or 6 very long hairs it seemed every morning when I brushed. Now I'm getting a whole brush full. I hope it's spring shed. Or maybe terminal shed since the longest lengths are mid thigh.

[malumsam]

Those of you who collect shed hairs for braids or clips-- what do you do with them until you have enough volume for a braid? I mean, how do you store them while you're collecting them, so they don't become a mass of tangle?

Personally, I just drop them into an empty kleenex box, so if they weren't tangled before going in, the resulting tangles might not be so bad.:confused:

[BlazingHeart]

I'm not so much upset by the amount I'm shedding as I am annoyed by the amount that tries to stick to me. I find them making me itch and tickling me and getting in my bed and...GRRR. I have very sensitive skin, so they bother me a LOT.

~Blaze

[QMacrocarpa]

I'm saving mine to make a bun rat (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=208). It seems like a procedure similar to felting wool, so I don't think tangles will be a problem.

[whichypoohs]

My hair seems to go through a stage where it's WEIRD. It seems thinner than usual, less bouncy and the growth slows down. Is this normal?